A’s trade Cliff Pennington for outfielder Chris Young

The A’s were expected to be one of the quietest teams this offseason, but the second you pin any expectations on Billy Beane, he’ll zag the other direction.

Less than two weeks after saying that he plans to keep the 2012 A’s team together, Beane traded longtime shortstop and recently second baseman Cliff Pennington to the Diamondbacks (shocker) along with minor-league infielder Yordy Cabrera for outfielder Chris Young.

“He’s going to fit in well,” said A’s starter Jarrod Parker, who like several other Oakland players also came from Arizona. “He’s similar to a lot of guys we have here, he’s young, he’ll have a lot in common with everyone. It’s going to be exciting to see him.”

The A’s, of course, already have three very good outfielders, so the only logical conclusion to draw from this is that Beane, Oakland’s GM, is planning to move one of the three. It’s hard to imagine them trading Yoenis Cespedes, who has superstar-in-the-making all over him, or Josh Reddick, who isn’t even arbitration eligible yet and who hit 31 homers.

UPDATE: Beane was very clear on a conference call with reporters that he has no plans to move any of the outfielders under contract for 2013.

So that means, instead of the below speculation, bye-bye Jonny Gomes. That’s something of a surprised, Beane had mentioned Gomes as “under the umbrella” of bringing everyone back next season, and manager Bob Melvin had voiced a strong desire to bring Gomes back.

So is it bye-bye Coco Crisp? Crisp is scheduled to make $7 million next year, but he also provided speed at the top of the lineup and his defense in center gave the A’s one of the best outfields in the league. Manager Bob Melvin often called Crisp both the offensive and defensive catalyst of the club. And, as an industry executive pointed out to me, Cespedes makes even more – $8.5 million next year. It’s really, really tough to picture Oakland parting with the kind of player the club cannot usually get, though.

Here’s another reason Crisp makes the most sense: Young, who made the NL All-Star team in 2010, has played in 851 major-league games, all of them in center. Of course, Cespedes also is a center fielder.

Young, 29, is a career .239 hitter in six-plus big-league seasons, with 132 homers in that time. The A’s hold an $11 million option on him for 2014 with a $1.5 million buyout.

Young doesn’t come cheap – like Cespedes, he’ll earn $8.5 million next year, and the A’s will get $500,o00 to help offset the contract. That’s not really going to make much of a dent in the payroll. Yet another reason Crisp is likely to go….or way, way less likely, Cespedes. Or heck, maybe Beane is just going to move Young along somewhere.

Melvin was Young’s manager in Arizona, so he must have provided a good review, as he did with shortstop Stephen Drew.

This deal makes it appear as if Drew is more likely to return to Oakland, because Pennington would have been Plan B at shortstop if Drew leaves. Drew and the A’s have a mutual $10 million option for 2013, but he could elect to explore the free agent market. I spoke to his agent, Scott Boras, this afternoon, and Boras said he has not yet started talking to the A’s, but will after the World Series is over.

The A’s have made numerous trades with Arizona over the past several years, including sending starter Dan Haren there in the deal that brought back starter Brett Anderson and first baseman Chris Carter (and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez); sending reliever Brad Ziegler there in 2011 for reliever Jordan Norberto; last winter, acquiring Parker and outfielder Collin Cowgill for starter Trevor Cahill; then getting Drew in August.

Will the A’s all be former Diamondbacks soon?

“I don’t know,” Parker said with a laugh. “I think it just has to do with Bob Melvin knowing these guys so well and Billy having such a good relationship with their front office. They work well together.”

So what happens at second base, a spot Pennington handled very well? Jemile Weeks is likely to get the first crack at regaining his old spot (also possible: Scott Sizemore , unless Beane has a grand plan that also includes a new second baseman and maybe shortstop if Drew doesn’t return.

Pennington was the longest tenured player on the A’s 25-man roster, and he was popular with his teammates.

“I’m definitely sad to see him go,” Parker said. “He went through a lot this year with the position change, and if he has the chance to play shortstop again now, that will be big for him.”